Pennsylvania Game Commission

Pennsylvania Game Commission

What level of fall wild turkey harvest by hunters causes population declines? That's what researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are learning midway through a five-year study of the birds.

Hunters interested in how and why yearling bucks disperse should be intrigued by the findings of a collaborative research project on white-tailed deer conducted by Penn State, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Geological Survey.

When do young male deer break away from their mothers? How far do they wander? To answer those questions, Penn State wildlife biologists have begun "the largest study of deer dispersal ever undertaken," according to Ph.D. candidate Eric Long. He is supervised on the project by wildlife ecology professor Duane Diefenbach.

Deer are the main reason a million Pennsylvanians buy hunting licenses each year, hunters whose trips to deer camps and purchases of supplies and equipment generate major economic benefits in many rural areas.